清 Qing · 诗 Poem
漫感
A Casual Feeling
绝域从军计惘然，东南幽恨满词笺。
一箫一剑平生意，负尽狂名十五年。
One flute, one sword — the purpose of my whole life; I have spent in vain my mad fame for fifteen years.
Meaning
The plan to go far to the frontier and join the army turns out a vain, lost hope; the hidden grief of the southeast, half-lost, fills my poem-sheets. One flute and one sword are the bent of my whole life; now I have in vain betrayed this mad reputation, for fifteen full years.
远赴边荒从军的谋划终成怅惘徒然，东南半壁沦丧的幽恨写满了诗笺。一支洞箫、一柄长剑便是我平生的怀抱，如今却白白辜负了这狂放的名声，整整十五年。
Appreciation
This poem, in the seven-character quatrain form, carries a deep, repressed air in extremely simple structure with great capacity. The opening 'ends in vain' sets the tone of disappointment in three words; the next 'fills my lyric sheets' exaggerates with a measure-word the depth of the hidden grief. The third line sets 'one flute, one sword' side by side — the flute for tender feeling and a literary heart, the sword for a vigorous ambition — hardness and softness together, and a self-portrait leaps out. The closing 'I have spent in vain my mad fame for fifteen years' ends with irony: on the surface it mocks the mad fame come to nothing, but in truth it grieves that the years have emptied and the great ambition has turned to dust. The language is sharp and brisk, unhurried yet with a strong bone.
【白话串讲】 “绝域从军计惘然，东南幽恨满词笺”——龚自珍写：从军边疆的打算落空，东南的幽恨写满诗笺。“一箫一剑平生意，负尽狂名十五年”——箫和剑，是他一生的意象。“负尽狂名十五年”——他自嘲这狂名。 【意象与手法】 此诗以七绝体写沉郁之气，章法极简而容量极大。起句'计惘然'三字定怅惘基调；次句'满词笺'以量词夸张幽恨之深 【情感与主旨】 《漫感》约作于清道光初年，时龚自珍（1792—1841）年届中年，屡困科场，仅得内阁中书微职，抱负无从施展 【名句点睛】 本诗为龚自珍代表作之一，命题多聚焦三处
Background
'A Casual Feeling' was likely written in the early years of the Daoguang reign, when Gong Zizhen (1792–1841) was past middle age, long stuck in the examinations, holding only the low post of a secretary in the Grand Secretariat, his ambitions unspent. Since the Jiaqing reign the Qing had turned from prosperity to decline: the northwest frontier wars and the southeast opium poison showed looming foreign trouble. The poet, long holding a reforming will yet sunk in low office, gave voice in poetry. 'Far frontier' points both to the border wars and to his suspended ideals; 'southeast hidden grief' names the social unease on the eve of the Opium War — an early voice of a generation's crisis-consciousness.
《漫感》为清代龚自珍所作，是写幽恨满笺、狂名负尽之感的诗。龚自珍（1792—1841），字璱人，号定盦，仁和人，清代思想家、诗人。此诗：绝域从军计惘然，东南幽恨满词笺。一箫一剑平生意，负尽狂名十五年。全诗写幽恨满笺、狂名负尽，是龚自珍诗的名篇。
Art
This poem, in the seven-character quatrain form, carries a deep, repressed air in extremely simple structure with great capacity. The opening 'ends in vain' sets the tone of disappointment in three words; the next 'fills my lyric sheets' exaggerates with a measure-word the depth of the hidden grief. The third line sets 'one flute, one sword' side by side — the flute for the tender literary heart, the sword for the vigorous ambition — hardness and softness together, and a self-portrait leaps out. The closing 'I have spent in vain my mad fame for fifteen years' ends with irony: on the surface it mocks the mad fame come to nothing, but in truth it grieves that the years have emptied and the great ambition has turned to dust. The language is sharp and brisk, unhurried yet with a strong, lofty bone.
《漫感》艺术上以幽恨的铺陈与狂名之慨的深婉见长。全诗四句：首写绝域从军——“绝域从军计惘然”写绝域从军、计惘然；中写东南幽恨——“东南幽恨满词笺”写东南幽恨满词笺；末写一箫一剑——“一箫一剑平生意，负尽狂名十五年”写一箫一剑平生意、负尽狂名十五年。全诗以幽恨写狂名之慨，正是龚自珍诗深婉的笔法。
Allusions
The poem uses very few allusions yet is deeply meaningful. 'Far frontier' transforms the frontier mood of the 'Book of the Later Han · Biography of Ban Chao' — 'I only wish to enter the Jade Gate Pass alive' — quietly hinting a sigh that no road to serve is open. The 'flute and sword' image forges Gong's own spiritual sign; it has a forebear in Xin Qiji's joint use of flute and sword, but Gong Zizhen condensed it into 'one flute, one sword — the purpose of my whole life' as his own label, opening the modern literatus's 'sword-qi and flute-heart' motif. 'Mad fame' derives from the Wei-Jin tradition of mad scholars, by which he likens himself to the unconstrained. The whole poem shows no piling of allusions; the old references melt naturally into blood and tears.
《漫感》用典在“绝域从军”“一箫一剑”“狂名”。“绝域从军”写极远之地从军（班超投笔从戎意）；“一箫一剑”写箫与剑（文才武略、江湖豪情之意）；“狂名”写狂放之名。全诗以这些意象写幽恨之慨，用典自然而深婉自见，正是龚自珍诗的笔法。
Commentary
Gong Zizhen's poetry is known for pairing 'sword-qi and flute-heart', and this poem is the condensed expression of that personality model. A modern critic said his poetry 'like an autumn tree with a cricket, faint and hesitant yet with its own bone'. Qian Zhonglian said this quatrain 'twenty-eight characters equal a whole Li Sao'. His writing of family-and-state grief in the seven-character quatrain opened the way for the Tongguang-style poets and the modern poetry revolution; when Liang Qichao read Gong's poems he felt 'as if struck by lightning' — enough to show this poem's shock to later spirits.
《漫感》是龚自珍诗的名篇，也是清诗中写幽恨之慨的代表作。此诗写幽恨满笺、狂名负尽，向为论者称道。论者多赏其幽恨的铺陈与狂名之慨的深婉——“绝域从军计惘然，东南幽恨满词笺”写绝域从军、东南幽恨，深婉之极；“一箫一剑平生意，负尽狂名十五年”写一箫一剑、负尽狂名，更见其慨。龚自珍为晚清思想先驱，其诗以奇肆深婉著称，此诗正是其代表——以幽恨写狂名之慨，正是其诗风。
Prosody
Line by line
绝域从军计惘然，东南幽恨满词笺。
To take the field in the far borders — the plan dissolves in doubt; the hidden grief of the southeast fills every sheet of my verse.
绝域从军计惘然，东南幽恨满词笺。
The plan to take the field in the far frontier fades into uncertainty; the secret grief of the southeast fills every page of my verses.
首写绝域从军、东南幽恨，是全诗写幽恨之慨的起点。“绝域从军计惘然”写绝域从军惘然——“绝域从军计惘然”写绝域从军之计划惘然（难成）——绝域从军计惘然；“东南幽恨满词笺”写东南幽恨满词笺——“东南幽恨满词笺”写东南幽恨充满词笺——东南幽恨满词笺。二句写绝域从军、东南幽恨：绝域从军计惘然，东南幽恨满词笺。以“绝域从军计惘然”写绝域从军、其计惘然之叹，以“东南幽恨满词笺”写东南幽恨、充满词笺之恨，正是龚自珍诗写幽恨之慨的起点——从军难成，幽恨满笺。
The opening writes the far-frontier service and the southeast grief, the starting point of the poem's sigh over hidden grief. To take the field in the far borders — the plan dissolves in doubt writes the plan of service in the distant borders uncertain (unfulfillable). The hidden grief of the southeast fills every sheet of my verse writes the grief of the southeast filling the paper. Two lines: the plan of the far border gone astray, the hidden grief filling the verse. Writing the sigh over the uncertain plan of distant service, and the grief of the southeast brimming the pages, is the starting point of Gong Zizhen's sigh over hidden grief: service impossible, the grief on every sheet.
一箫一剑平生意，负尽狂名十五年。
A flute and a sword have been my lifelong desire; yet I have belied the name of wild man for fifteen years.
一箫一剑平生意，负尽狂名十五年。
A flute and a sword were my lifelong ambition; for fifteen years I have belied the wild reputation I bore.
末写一箫一剑、负尽狂名，是全诗写狂名之慨的归结。“一箫一剑平生意”写一箫一剑平生意——“一箫一剑平生意”写一箫一剑是平生意愿（文才武略）——一箫一剑平生意；“负尽狂名十五年”写负尽狂名十五年——“负尽狂名十五年”写负尽狂名已十五年——负尽狂名十五年。二句写一箫一剑、负尽狂名：一箫一剑平生意，负尽狂名十五年。以“一箫一剑平生意”写一箫一剑、平生意愿（本欲文武兼济），以“负尽狂名十五年”写负尽狂名已十五年（狂名而无实际），正是龚自珍诗写狂名之慨的归结——平生意愿，负尽狂名。
The close writes a flute and a sword, and the belied wild reputation, the conclusion of the poem's sigh over the wild name. A flute and a sword have been my lifelong desire writes the flute and the sword as the lifelong wish (arts and arms together). Yet I have belied the name of wild man for fifteen years writes the fifteen years of bearing the wild name in vain. Two lines: the flute and sword of a lifetime, the fifteen years of the belied name. Writing the lifelong wish for the flute and sword (meaning to serve in letters and arms together), and the fifteen years of the wild name with no substance, is the conclusion of the sigh: the lifelong desire, and the wild name wholly belied.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
龚自珍《己亥杂诗·其五》“落红不是无情物，化作春泥更护花”写落红护花之志，与本首同为龚自珍诗。差异在情致：漫感写幽恨狂名之慨；己亥杂诗其五写落红护花之志。一写“慨”之深，一写“志”之坚。两者并读，可见龚自珍诗忧慨与志气的两种情致。
夜坐 Sitting at Night 龚自珍 · 同为龚自珍诗写忧时之慨，一写幽恨狂名一写夜坐之思，皆深婉 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
龚自珍《夜坐》写夜坐忧时之思，与本首同为龚自珍诗。差异在情境：漫感写幽恨狂名；夜坐写夜坐之思。一写“笺”之恨，一写“坐”之思。两者并读，可见龚自珍诗写忧时之慨的两种情境。
己亥杂诗·九州生气恃风雷 Miscellaneous Poems of the Year Jihai: The Vitality of the Nine Provinces Relies on Wind and Thunder 龚自珍 · 与本首相关联的同类或同作者作品，供对比阅读 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
此处关联龚自珍《己亥杂诗·九州生气恃风雷》，与本首在主题、体裁或作者上相关联，可对比阅读以见其同异。